Making his second start in place of the injured Matt Garza, the 29-year-old righthander struck out a career-high 14 while allowing just three hits over six shutout innings to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a much-needed 6-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Fiers (2-1) struck out the side on three different occasions en route to becoming the first Brewers pitcher to record double-digit strikeouts since Sept. 30, 2012. It just so happened to be Fiers who accomplished the feat last time as well, 286 games ago.

"Just getting the win is awesome after losing the last two," said Fiers of the Brewers' four-game series split with the Cubs.

Despite playing without Ryan Braun, Aramis Ramirez and Jean Segura, who got a day of rest, Milwaukee increased its lead in the NL Central to 2 games.

"We definitely need to get back on the winning side of things and go from there," Fiers said. "Personally, obviously it was a great outing with a lot of strikeouts, but the biggest thing was getting the win."

Including his eight-inning victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers last Saturday, Fiers has now allowed a total of six hits, one run and two walks to go along with 19 strikeouts since joining the rotation.

His overall earned-run average, which includes four relief appearances from earlier this season, dropped to 1.29.

It's a small sample size, but one that's very reminiscent of Fiers' Brewers debut in 2012, when he went 8-6 with a 2.88 ERA over his first 16 starts.

"This is exactly what he did for us two years ago," manager Ron Roenicke said. "This is what he did. And it's kind of the same situation — he was lights out at Triple-A, we brought him up, and he dealt."

Cubs starter Edwin Jackson struck out a season-high 11 in seven shutout innings against the Brewers at Wrigley Field on May 17. But he got off to a rocky start in this one when, after he issued consecutive two-out walks to Jonathan Lucroy and Khris Davis, Scooter Gennett banged a double off the wall in right-center to give the Brewers a quick 2-0 lead.

Fiers, however, established himself from the outset.

He struck out Chris Coghlan and Javier Baez in the bottom of the first, then fanned the side in the second. After Davis cut through the wind with a line-drive, two-out solo homer to left to make it 3-0 in the third, Fiers opened the bottom half by striking out Welington Castillo and Jackson.

"You could see it right off with him, the first couple innings you could see how guys were swinging at his fastball," said Roenicke. "And when they're late on the fastball, you know everything's going to be working right."

He received a couple more runs in the top of the fourth when Elian Herrera tripled in Lyle Overbay and Carlos Gomez singled in Herrera with two outs to make it 5-0.

Fiers began the bottom of the fourth by fanning Baez for the second time, then got Anthony Rizzo — who'd accounted for the Cubs' lone hit to that point with a double in the first — to tap out to him.

"I definitely knew I was striking out a bunch of guys," Fiers acknowledged. "The number I didn't know, but I knew it was getting up there later in the game."

At 106 pitches by that point, Fiers' day was done.

Only Clayton Kershaw has struck out more — 15 — this season, and that occurred in a no-hitter.

Considering the dire straits they appeared to be in after Garza went on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left oblique, Fiers has been nothing short of a revelation over his first two starts.

"It's really big to be able to fill in for your big guys that you count on, to walk in and throw those kind of games," said Roenicke. "It's great."

Gallardo (July 15, 2012) and Haas (April 12, 1978) had been tied at 14 for the second-most strikeouts in a single game in franchise history. Sheets set the record by fanning 18 Atlanta Braves at Miller Park on May 16, 2004.

To have his name mentioned in that kind of company seems a bit surreal for Fiers, who suffered through a nightmarish 2013 that included a demotion to Class AAA Nashville, the death of his mother and a season-ending broken pitching arm after being hit by a line drive.

"I feel like I've been pitching like this all year," said Fiers, who was 8-5 with a 2.55 ERA in 17 starts at Nashville. "I kind of got my confidence back from last year, probably in winter ball. Coming into spring training I felt good. I just took off from there."

Zach Duke replaced Fiers and got the first two outs in the seventh before Justin Ruggiano singled and Castillo reached on a two-base throwing error by Herrera. Pinch-hitter Chris Valaika followed with a two-run single to left to cut Milwaukee's lead to 5-2.

Milwaukee got one of those runs back in the eighth when Mark Reynolds drilled his team-leading 21st homer to left off Kyuji Fujikawa, and Will Smith and Jeremy Jeffress pitched scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth.